Buenos Aires, Argentina – President Nestor Kirchner met Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales with a bear hug Thursday and then agreed to a 47 percent price hike for the Bolivian natural gas Argentina needs to fuel South America’s second-largest economy.
The accord means Argentina’s price will rise immediately from $3.38 to about $5 per million British thermal units through year’s end. Prices for 2007 will be the subject of later talks, aides said.
Kirchner also announced a joint pledge to move forward with ambitious plans for a natural gas pipeline linking Bolivia’s Southern gasfields with Northern Argentina. The pipeline and price hikes have been the subject of intense negotiations, which had hit a snag after Morales’ abrupt state takeover of Bolivia’s energy sector in May.
The two leftist presidents signed the accords after back-to-back speeches interrupted by raucous applause from a crowd of thousands of Bolivian migrants at a campaign-style rally.
“After long negotiations, after meetings between our government ministers, I say “thank you!” for the great effort you have taken, to sign this agreement establishing the price of $5 to benefit my nation,” Morales told Kirchner.
“Viva, Argentina! Long Live, Bolivia!” he concluded amid raucous cheers and drum beats.
Argentina has struggled to meet rising demand for compressed natural gas that power ever-increasing numbers of taxis, cars and official vehicles.
Taxi driver Juan Carlos Diaz, an Argentine, said it costs him some 20 pesos or $6.50 a day to buy natural gas at the pump for a day’s work. He complained loudly about Morales’ visit as he filled up at a gas station.
“If the price goes up, it will come out of my pocket,” he complained.
The visit by Morales comes just before Sunday’s election in Bolivia for an assembly that will rewrite the constitution. A socialist protest leader, Morales was elected Bolivia’s first Indian president by a landslide in December, with a mission of bringing the majority of his poor Andean nation out of poverty.
Grover Zubieta, a Bolivian working in Argentina for the past nine years, was among thousands of Bolivians who went to the rally to see Morales for the first time.
“I really like Morales for what he’s doing,” said Zubieta, 37.
“Now we’ll have more money to help the Bolivian people.”
